Manufacture of shoes and slippers



(No Model.)

C. H. BUCHANAN.

MANUPAGTURE oF- SHOES AND summa.

Paten-ted Jan. 19, 1886.

. PATENT rrr-cn.

CHARLES H. BUCHANAN, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IVIANUFACTURE. OF SHOES AND SLIPPERS.

SPBCIFICATEQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 334.562. dated January 19, 1886.

Application tiled ctoher 22, 1885. Seri-.1l No. 180.604. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Beit known that l, CHARLES H. BUCHANAN, a citizen of the United States. residing at Philadelphia. in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inA the Manufacture of Shoes and Slippers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description oftheinventiomreference being had to the-accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification, in which- Figure l is a plan of guide-strip of ne plaited material or straw-braid. Fig. 2 is a plan of same piece joined at heel, the material being a coarser plait or braid. Fig. 3 is a plan of an upper, same material as Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of shoe or slipper embodying my improvement. Fig. 5 is a perspective of article shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a plan of upper in which the successive courses of overlapping material are separate strips.

My invention has for its object to provide a new kind, style, or form ot' shoe or slipper-y viz., one the upper of which shall be composed of strands, strips, or lengths of narrow material united in such manner as to overlap each other and give the desired or necessary shape or contour to the upper.

A further object of my invention is to provide a method or process of construction of a shoe or slipper upper of the kind mentioned, which may be practiced on or put into effect by means of a sewing-machine, whereby such uppers canl be produced with facility and comparatively slight expense.

My invention consists, first, in the new product herein mentioned-viz., a shoe or slipper upper composed of a guide strip or band having stitched thereto strips or narrow pieces of material united in overlapping strands; second, in the process or method of constructing or producing a shoe or slipper upper having the characteristics mentioned; and, third,

in certain details of construction and of methods hereinafter fully specified and claimed.

Any suitable material in the form of a long narrow strip, such as tape or ribbon, may be used in producing the upper of my invention;

but the article mainly intended for use by me o is straw-braid, either natural or yimitation straw or grass, or both natural and imitation straw-braid. In forming anupper of this material I first take a strip or piece of it of sufficient length to encircle a foot slightly beloar the ankle, or a last a short distance below the top or horizontally around the instep and heel. In the accompanying drawings, A represents this piece, which I call the guidestrip, as it forms the foundation or initial piece of the upper. I place this strip A on a sewing-machine and run a line of stitching, a, around its inner edge, and impart to the strip at or about its middle a curve or tiara a', which said inner line of stitching holds securely and rmly in a horizontal or approximately horizontal plane. This flare forms the beginning of the toe or instep curve of the upper. The two ends of the strip are united at a2 to form the heel, and in such way that the heel portion is in a plane at or about at right angles to the toe or instep portion; or, while the latter is horizontal, or approximately so, the heel part is vertical or substantially vertical. Said ends of the guide-piece may be united when the line of stitching a is formed, or subsequently. The piece A is then an endless band, having two curves, one at the instep or toe portion and one at the heel, the front curve being flat or horizontal and the rear curve vertical, said front curve being secured by the line of stitching a on or near the inner edge of the strip. I next take a long strip of material, B-such as straw-braidand attach a course of it to the piece A, underlapping said piece and sewing to the outer edge of the latter at b, and, the work being done on a suitable sewing-machine, the line of stitching being run in the reverse direction from the line a. The strip B is then continued on in overlapping courses C C', 8vo., all of said courses, including the first, having the fiat or nearly fiat curve at the toe or in- Y-step similar to that of the piece A, and the turn at the heel like the latter, said front curves being secured by flaring and said heel-turn being produced by drawing7 the` material in the act of stitching. (By iiaring is meant bending or swaying the material laterally while sewing, and by drawing is meant holding tightly or producing tension in the under course while stitchingto the one above.) These courses are continued until a Complete upper is produced, and said upper is afterward secured to asole, D, composed oi'leather orother materiahiu the saine Inauner as leather or other uppers 'usually are.

Instead of making the upper of a guidestrip, A, united at its ends to form an endless band, and a single long strip, B, forming courses or overlapping strands, as shown in Figs. l, d, and 5 oi' the drawings, the guidestrip A, havingI the front curve, c', produced by an innerline 0i' stitching, a, niayhave its ends not united, and successive pieces of the same shape may be stitched to it for formingr overlapping courses of varying and gradually increasing length n'ith the toe or instep curvature. This will produce an upper like that shown in Fig. i5, A being the ruido-strip, B the next course, and C the successive courses stitched together at their outer or overlapping edges and open at the heel. The heel of this upper may he formed like that of an ordinary leather upper-viz., by stitching the heel ends of the upper together and to a transverse or vertical strip or stay.

l do not herein broadly claim a shoe or slipper upper, or a shoe or slipper the upper of which is composed of strands or strips of material united to each other in overlaliping courses, as the same is claimed in another pending application of mine for Leiters Patent-vizmy application iiled August 7, 1885, No. 173,861, my claims herein being coniined to a construction and method involving the foundation-piece hereinbefore described.

Vhat I claim as my invention is as follows:

l. A shoe or slipper upper composed of a guide-strip or band, A, having the outline of the top ofthe shoe produced by a line of stitch ing on or near its inner edge, which secures said configuration, and overlapping courses of material secured to said guide-strip and to each other, substantially as shown and described.

2. The process herein described or" forming uppers for shoes or slippers from straw-braid or other material in strips or lengths, said process consistingr in first stitchingr a strip to forni a band or guide ofthe general configura tion of the top of the shoe, and then stitching successive strands or pieces thereto, said strands overlapping each other at the edges, substantially as shown and described.

3. The process herein described of forming an upper of a shoe or slipper, said process consisting ofthe follow-steps: first, forming a guide-strip or foundatiolrpiece of a strip of material curved at or about its middle by stitching` it along its inner edge and flaring it while so stitching it and fastening the ends of said strip together; second, securing to said foundatioirpiece a strip oi' long narrow material by uuiting'it to the outer edge ot' the foundation-} iieee by a line of stitching run in the direction opposite to that ofthe inner line of stitching; and, third, stitching successive courses of the second strip to each other, each inner course overlapping the one outside, and all the courses havinga front curve anda rear curve similar to those 0f the guide-strip, said front curve being produced by daring and said rear curve by drawing in the act of stitching them together, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, this Sth day of October, 1885.

CHAS. II. BUCHANAN.

Vitnesses:

M. D. CosNoLLY, R. DALE SPARHAWK. 

